ORIGINAL ALBUM CLASSICS

3,4,5,6,7........... Only numbers for some. But for Soft Machine fans, this is both five numbers between one to ten and five captivating Soft Machine albums. Albums that still draws us into the world of Hopper, Ratledge, Dean, Marshall and the other fine musicians which were a part of this machine on these albums. Thanx to PA and the new Soft Machine live albums, Soft Machine is getting more and more fans as times goes too. I see a lot of new reviews here by new members of PA. That's excellent news.

Sony Music has released some 3-5 CDs boxes under the name Original Album Classics. As the titles suggest; the boxes only includes the original albums and no extra stuff. There is no booklets or even any relevant info in these boxes. Just the CD and some artwork. Many bands/artists in the PA database has also got this treatment. These boxes has sold very well so far due to the price. My brand new Soft Machine box (released a couple of days ago) only cost me £ 14/ $ 20 / ? 20 and that is the same price as one or two original albums. I already have those albums as paid MP3 downloads, but I am not saying "no thanx" to physical samples of these albums to that price.

The box comes without booklets at all. Just the CDs in promo CDs boxes with only the artwork. That is fine for me because I, and everyone else, can get all info I/we need about the albums from the internet or even books. In my case, Graham Bennet's book on Soft Machine. I am not so sure if I need booklets at all thanx to ProgArchives and other information sources. So I have no hassle with this. I do like the saving of space this box is compared to five CDs with jewel cases and all that xtra space. That mean I can even bring this box into work and play Third and Fourth on the CD player there. I can also bring this box with my on travels on planes etc etc. In other words; the lack of booklets is OK for me, but be warned if you still like your booklets. I believe the lack of booklets is the way the music business is now heading due to the internet thingy.

Music wise, I have to refer you all to the respective reviews of the albums. With glee and open joy, I put Third in the CD tray on my CD player and gave Facelift an airing. The sound is excellent and this makes me believe this may be the remastered version of Third and the four other albums. Full marks for the sound......... and Facelift really rocks !!

The quality of the music is somewhere between three and five in my view. Four stars it is, then. I would give five star for the value of this box though. No booklets is no good, but use ProgArchives as the reference source if you need a booklet.

In short; if you are new to Soft Machine and want to explore this band more; buy this box. If you, as I did, only have paid MP3 files of these albums; buy this box. If you have all the albums on CD or LP from before; don't bother. If you are looking for a cheap fantastic Christmas present to someone you believe should explore the horizons more; buy this one, Al De Meola or the Mahavishnu Orchestra box. In short; this box is excellent value for money. Hence my four stars.

4 stars

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